Celtics-Spurs Game Blog: Fourth Quarter

– Doc’s starting the fourth with Pierce and the second unit on the floor. This game is looking like it will come down to the wire, so Garnett (27 minutes) and Ray Allen[2] (30 minutes) are conserving their energy til later down the stretch.

– George Hill is holding his own for the Spurs. When I first caught up with Hill at the 2008 Las Vegas Summer League, he was a wide-eyed rookie anxious for the chance to get playing time behind Parker and Ginobili. Injuries made it possible for him to get minutes early in the season and this afternoon he is showing no signs of first-year jitters late in the game.

– How do you bring 18,000 fans to their feet on a Sunday afternoon? KG made it look easy with a game-tying dunk with four minutes to go.

– Surprisingly there is more of a playoff atmosphere today than against the Lakers. Hardly anyone is sitting down and the entire Celtics bench is on their feet. Tony Allen’s towel waving was another flashback to June.

– And that’s why he’s in the Three-Point Shootout. Roger Mason drained a trey with 20 seconds left to give the Spurs a two-point edge. That was only Mason’s third bucket of the game.

– The life was sucked out of the Garden when Pierce was called for a clear path foul, sending Ginobili to the line to hit the free throws. It doesn’t seem fitting that such a tough fought match would end at the line.